A Walk in the Park

Yesterday, we headed for the western side of the Nile in the downtown area of Cairo. Two of our favorite neighborhoods are found there, Dokki and Zamalek. These are two old and upscale neighborhoods of the city. Dokki is packed with beautiful old homes that are now mostly embassies.


We enjoy walking through Dokki. There are tree-lined streets, relative quiet (except when school has just ended for the day) and lots to see. A few of the trees were beginning to show signs of spring. The fruit, flower and vegetable vendors offer plenty of color.


This area is close to the Sheraton where we used to stay when we visited Cairo, so we know it well.



We then headed past the Sheraton onto the island that forms Zamalek. This area is accessible from the east side of the Nile via the Qasr el-Nile Bridge. We call it the "Lion Bridge" because of the large statues of lions at the ends. We were heading for a restaurant with a view. Many people have been near this area when visiting the Cairo Tower but miss the great river views from this indoor/outdoor restaurant. Here is the area that I'm describing as viewed from the north end of Zamalek.


We were pleasantly surprised to notice that the park, just to the south of the road by the Opera House has been nicely cleaned up. It cost two pounds apiece for the entrance fee, but it is well worth the 35 cents to walk through this area. From the park, you get the view of the Cairo Tower on the left instead of the view on the right.


It's a lot quieter, too.

Here are a couple more pictures from the stroll through the park:


We soon reached the entrance to the restaurant known as Casino El Nile. There is no casino, just a riverfront restaurant with hundreds of outdoor tables and a number of indoor tables too. Since everyone here thinks it is winter, the outdoor tables were almost all vacant. We chose one with a nice view.


If you were new to the city it would be easy to miss the entrance to this place:


And you would miss not only a great view, but very good food. Linda had the Shish Tawouk (grilled chicken) and I chose the Chicken nigresco. I made my choice based on a guess that it might be blackened chicken. The waiter said it came with rice. Count me "double surprised!" Chicken Nigresco (or Negresco) turns out to be chicken with pasta in a bechamel sauce. It tasted good.


We stayed through sunset and enjoyed desert. Linda had Om Ali, her favorite. We took one last picture of the restaurant as we were leaving.